The architect of the project Peter Kulka fulfilled all the requirements of the customers: the unsupported ceiling does not violate the stylistic unity of the Renaissance architecture of the courtyard, it does not distract the attention of visitors from the various pediments and cornices that crown the buildings surrounding the courtyard, and also - which seemed to many important - is almost invisible when looking from the city …
The transformation of the open courtyard into a covered lobby of the future museum complex, where the visitor center, ticket offices and a cafe will be located, is one of the final stages of the reconstruction of the castle, which was badly damaged during the bombing of Dresden by the Allies at the end of World War II. For several decades after the end of the war, it stood in ruins, and only in the 1980s its purposeful reconstruction began. Despite serious damage, it was decided to restore the monument to the last detail. But in the 1990s, a discussion arose: the residents of the city and, in general, all citizens of the united Germany could not come to a common opinion: at what historical moment should the castle be restored? As a result, it was decided that for each part of the building it was necessary to choose the time period when it was "the most beautiful", which ultimately led to a historically unreliable overall result (for example, the facades of the Great Courtyard were decorated with copies of Renaissance paintings, by the time of the castle's demise already did not exist, etc.). But the desire of the customers to get the complex "in the old style" did not influence the project of Kulka: the bold outline of its "dome" of trusses with a membrane shell looks like a necessary component of the 21st century in the extraordinary mixture of styles and eras that the new Dresden castle has become.
The castle will be fully open to visitors as a museum complex in 2013.
